Expert: “There may be an accident of criticality” during fuel removal at Fukushima Unit 4 — TV: Rods could crumble, frightening that Tepco is in charge of potential catastrophe (VIDEOS)

Published: November 9th, 2013 at 12:10 pm ET By ENENews  Email Article 3 comments

AFP, Nov. 7, 2013: Experts warn that any slip-ups could quickly cause the situation to deteriorate. Even minor mishaps will create considerable delays to the already long and complicated decommissioning. If the rods are exposed to the air they would release radiation and could heat up, a process that if left unchecked could lead to a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. TEPCO says that is unlikely, but sceptics say that with so many unknowns in the novel operation, there is potential for a catastrophe. [...] “Any trouble in this operation will considerably affect the timetable for the entire project,” he said. “This is an operation TEPCO cannot afford to bungle.” Hiroaki Koide, assistant professor at Kyoto University Reactor Research Institute in Kyoto, said success was far from guaranteed. “It is not easy work,” he said. The comments reflect an increasingly widespread view that the giant utility is not capable of dealing with the mess its nuclear plant has created.

The Real News, Nov. 8, 2013 — Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Ph.D. in engineering (specialization: nuclear fusion) from the University of California at Berkeley (at 2:30 in): The spent fuel may be difficult to dislodge because it’s no longer in its proper original position. The fuel rods may break, and the fuel may wind up at the bottom of the reactor in the spent fuel pool. There may be an accident of criticality. I haven’t examined their plans in detail, but I do think it is very essential to remove this spent fuel, because in my judgment, the bigger danger is leaving it there and waiting for the earthquake to happen.

Watch the extended interview with Arjun Makhijani here

RT, Nov.7, 2013 — Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear: The fuel itself could be bent, it could be damaged, it could be corroded. They used salt water at one point to cool the nuclear waste in this pool, which could have corroded the assemblies. They could break apart; they could crumble when they go to try to remove them. Even the director of the nuclear regulation authority of Japan has warned that this process should not be rushed; they should not try to force these assemblies out of their storage channels. But they have to get them out before a bigger earthquake takes the building down, the cooling water would drain away, and the waste with them will catch on fire. There is no radiological containment around the pool and if this waste would catch fire it could be 10 times worse than Chernobyl. That’s how much radioactivity is stored in that pool. Just in terms of the radioactive cesium content. [...]  It’s absurd that Tokyo Electric is in charge of this globally significant extracting of the fuel from the pool. If something goes wrong, this could be a global catastrophe that dwarfs what has happened on Fukushima Daiichi thus far. Tokyo Electric has shown its true colors time and time again, its incompetence and its dishonesty, so it’s very frightening that Tokyo Electric is in charge of this.

Watch the interview with Kevin Kamps here

Published: November 9th, 2013 at 12:10 pm ET By ENENews  Email Article 3 comments Like ENENews on Facebook Follow ENENews on Twitter Subscribe to the ENENews RSS Feed Sign up for daily email updates

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED

Expert: “There may be an accident of criticality” during fuel removal at Fukushima Unit 4 — TV: Rods could crumble, frightening that Tepco is in charge of potential catastrophe (VIDEOS)

TEPCO to Begin Dangerous Removal of 1500 Nuclear Fuel Rods Soon

Staff Writer | November 8, 2013 | 12:24pm EST

TEPCO is getting ready to remove 1500 nuclear fuel rods at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, in hopes to control the radiation leakage once and for all.

Fukushima I nuclear power plant before the 2011 explosion. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

FUTABA DISTRICT, JAPAN (INTELLIHUB) — The damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, owned and operated by TEPCO, will be undergoing a dangerous clean-up procedure in the coming days causing concerns that another mishap may occur. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was ravaged after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the facility back in March of 2011.

So far TEPCO decommissioned Fukushima’s 4 rector units, the last of which was decommissioned in April of 2013, however a 30km evacuation zone still exists around the facility as one can acquire 6 days worth of radiation in just a short few hour visit to the facility.

Checkpoints are rampant throughout the area, as only authorized vehicles and personnel are allowed in. The scene is reminisce of a martial law type scenario. 

Recently journalists and camera crews from CNN were allowed inside the reactor #4 unit, where TEPCO approved them for a video report, although “strict rules” were imposed on the journalists reporting on the damage from the inside. The journalist were only allowed to tour pre-approved areas with escort.

TEPCO said recently that they think and hope most of the fuel rods are intact and remain undamaged, decreasing the chance of something going wrong during the procedure.

Over the coming weeks about 1500 radioactive nuclear fuel rods will be removed from the damaged cooling pool, then transported to a safer location 100 meters away in a massive effort to stop the radiation leaking into the environment. Most if not all of the debris was removed out of the pool with an underwater vacuum cleaner like device earlier on to minimize the chance of disaster during this highly dangerous procedure.

An entire new building structure has been built around the damaged fuel pool to minimize the byproduct if such a disaster were to arise from a failed clean-up attempt.

In other parts of the plant clean-up was moving along, but just not fast enough. The efforts were spotty as TEPCO has announced they are only focusing on critical and essential clean-up and repairs art this time.

New seawall barriers have been built to “prevent an estimated 300 tones of contaminated ground water from seeping into the ocean daily”, said Paula Hancocks with CNN. “The tips of yellow and pink ribbons sticking up from the earth indicate where an underground barrier has been constructed. Liquid cement has been injected into the ground to try to keep the water within the plant itself.

The coming days will be crucial to the efforts to stabilize the nuclear power plant. TEPCO rejected alarmist comments from some quarters that any mistake in removing the spent fuel rods could spark another nuclear disaster.”, reported CNN._[1]

Sources:

[1] Journey to the heart of Fukushima’s crippled nuclear plant – CNN.com

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TEPCO to Begin Dangerous Removal of 1500 Nuclear Fuel Rods Soon